As part of National School of Drama’s ninth Bharat Rang Mahotsav, hosted in association with Paschim Banga Natya Akademi, celebrated danseuse Geeta Chandran presents
Kaikeyi, a solo dance-theatre performance, created in collaboration with Rashid Ansari. The collaboration has resulted in a new vocabulary of movement, specific to the unique intersection between highly stylised frames of motion. While Chandran has delved into traditional
devadasi abhinaya and abstract
nritta postures to resurrect a pristine Bharata Natyam, Ansari has brought techniques of Butoh and Kabuki theatre into the
abhinaya interpretation. Chinese martial art forms of
Tai Chi Chu’an,
Ba-gua and weapons techniques also figure in the choreography. Every moment of the production is, however, sourced in a nuanced understanding of the original Valmiki text. It unearths hitherto unexplored facets of the complex character of a beautiful, intelligent woman, who refuses to succumb passively to rigid patriarchal hegemony.

January 17 at Oxford Bookstore; 6.30 pm: Publication of Kamalini Sengupta’s The Top of the Raintree. Followed by readings from the book by its author and an interaction with Prof Bharati Ray and Sujata Sen.